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The tyranny of utility : behavioral social science and the rise of paternalism

Examines how developments in economics and the social sciences lead to greater government intrusion in our private lives. Exploring how behavioral economics contributes to the excessive rise of paternalistic interventions, this title presents a controversial challenge to the prevailing currents in economic and political discourse.Read more...

Details

Political organization and the conception of man --
The challenge to the unitary individual in Western thought --
Economics : the last bastion of rationality --
Economics goes behavioral --
From utility to happiness --
Post-utilitarianism : searching for a collective soul in the behavioral era --
The policy prescriptions of behavioral economics --
The modern paternalistic state --
Responsibility transfer --
The role of science --
Markets in a paternalistic world --
Where to go?

Responsibility:

Gilles Saint-Paul.

Reviews

Editorial reviews

Publisher Synopsis

"The Tyranny of Utility is a courageous and original contribution. In particular, Saint-Paul's analysis of the consequences of post-utilitarianism on individual freedom is highly convincing."--Arnaud Vaganay, LSE's Politics and Policy blog "[T]houghtful, challenging, and intellectual honest... [T]his is a serious book and certainly not to be missed by scholars and public policy decision makers."--Choice "Saint-Paul's contribution to the current policy debate regarding paternalism is timely, and society's embrace of new restrictions of individual liberty--coupled with its diminishing emphasis on individual responsibility--is troubling, particularly as such restrictions are done in the name of pursuing an ill-defined and problematic conception of individual welfare. Although we ought to distinguish between debates about the value of a utilitarian state and the value of a paternalistic state, Saint-Paul's call to slow down is welcome to those of us who felt that the move from behavioural economics to state paternalism happened much too quickly."--Brynn F. Welch, Economics and Philosophy "Saint-Paul writes clearly, knows his economic theories inside and out, sees all the arguments in favour of the behavioural economic approach that is currently on the rise, and is scared... What I found in favour of this book is that Saint-Paul is not a mindless theorist or a blind opponent of behavioural economics: he himself contributes to the literatures he is discussing and he is part of the policy wars in Europe, giving him good insights into the use of economic arguments in policy debates."--Paul Frijters, Economic RecordRead more...

"Political organization and the conception of man -- The challenge to the unitary individual in Western thought -- Economics : the last bastion of rationality -- Economics goes behavioral -- From utility to happiness -- Post-utilitarianism : searching for a collective soul in the behavioral era -- The policy prescriptions of behavioral economics -- The modern paternalistic state -- Responsibility transfer -- The role of science -- Markets in a paternalistic world -- Where to go?"@en